scholarly journals Reallocation of Water Resources in the Arab Region: An Emerging Challenge in Water Governance

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-298
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Arab Region

Reallocation of Water Resources in the Arab Region

2019 ◽  
pp. 321-337
Author(s):  
Otieno Odhiambo Luther
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Policy Option ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Equitable Distribution ◽  
Arab Region ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Governance Challenges

Water is an integral part of ecosystems. Water is essential to earth's living creatures and central to maintaining the earth's ecosystems. In most of the world, both water quantity and quality problems are becoming more acute, since the available water resources are being over-utilized and stressed beyond the sustainability point. The contemporary global water crises including inefficient use and lack of equitable distribution are mainly due to the crises of governance. Water governance emerged as a comprehensive framework by replacing all the existing paradigms including integrated water resource management. Though water governance focuses many aspects in ensuring sustainable use of water resources and its equitable distribution, reallocation of water resources may be the most appropriate policy option to achieve these objectives. Reallocation will systematically address the uneven distribution of water resources across the sectors and prevent excessive allocation of water to a particular sector. Based on secondary sources, this chapter analyzes the challenges involved in water governance in terms of water reallocation in the Arab countries where the allocation of water for agriculture is very high. Addressing water scarcity in the Arab region lies mainly in effectively managing the growing demand. Major water governance challenges with respect reallocation of water resources are tariff, metering, and billing, which led to the excessive use in an unprecedented manner.

Water Governance and Management in Indus Basin - Challenges & Threats

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marium Sara Minhas Bandeali
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
The State ◽  
Indus Basin

Water governance and management are important challenges for the River Indus Basin in Pakistan. Water governance refers to social, political and economic factors that influence water management. The water scarcity and water security are a major concern for the state to control its water resources. The study aims to give Sindh water policy by exploring the challenges to Indus Basin in managing water resources and to identify opportunities Indus Basin can look to improve water management. Interviews were conducted from water experts and analysts having 5 years’ experience or more in the water sector of Pakistan through a semi-structured self-developed questionnaire using purposive sampling technique and transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings show that increasing population, climatic change and rising demand of water are major challenges Indus is facing and Indus with time is getting water-scarce therefore need strong institutions, civil society and legislatures to ensure equitable distribution of water and maintain the ecosystem. The study emphasizes that water governance and management are necessary for sustainable use of water. Pakistan, the water stress country needs to address ‘governance’ at a wider scale to solve problems in the Indus Basin for the livelihood of people. The research will benefit the state, water experts, institutions as well as civil society to promote efficient use of water in Indus Basin.

Exploring Northwest China's agricultural water-saving strategy: analysis of water use efficiency based on an SE-DEA model conducted in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province

2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 1106-1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Mu ◽  
L. Fang ◽  
H. Wang ◽  
L. Chen ◽  
Y. Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Water Saving ◽  
Shaanxi Province ◽  
Agricultural Water ◽  
Use Efficiency

Worldwide, water scarcity threatens delivery of water to urban centers. Increasing water use efficiency (WUE) is often recommended to reduce water demand, especially in water-scarce areas. In this paper, agricultural water use efficiency (AWUE) is examined using the super-efficient data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach in Xi'an in Northwest China at a temporal and spatial level. The grey systems analysis technique was then adopted to identify the factors that influenced the efficiency differentials under the shortage of water resources. From the perspective of temporal scales, the AWUE increased year by year during 2004–2012, and the highest (2.05) was obtained in 2009. Additionally, the AWUE was the best in the urban area at the spatial scale. Moreover, the key influencing factors of the AWUE are the financial situations and agricultural water-saving technology. Finally, we identified several knowledge gaps and proposed water-saving strategies for increasing AWUE and reducing its water demand by: (1) improving irrigation practices (timing and amounts) based on compatible water-saving techniques; (2) maximizing regional WUE by managing water resources and allocation at regional scales as well as enhancing coordination among Chinese water governance institutes.

scholarly journals Analysing inter-relationships among water, governance, human development variables in developing countries

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. 3791-3816 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Dondeynaz ◽  
C. Carmona Moreno ◽  
J. J. Céspedes Lorente
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Joint Research ◽  
Discussion Section

Abstract. The "Integrated Water Resources Management" principle was formally laid down at the International Conference on Water and Sustainable development in Dublin 1992. One of the main results of this conference is that improving Water and Sanitation Services (WSS), being a complex and interdisciplinary issue, passes through collaboration and coordination of different sectors (environment, health, economic activities, governance, and international cooperation). These sectors influence or are influenced by the access to WSS. The understanding of these interrelations appears as crucial for decision makers in the water sector. In this framework, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (EC) has developed a new database (WatSan4Dev database) containing 42 indicators (called variables in this paper) from environmental, socio-economic, governance and financial aid flows data in developing countries. This paper describes the development of the WatSan4Dev dataset, the statistical processes needed to improve the data quality, and finally, the analysis to verify the database coherence is presented. Based on 25 relevant variables, the relationships between variables are described and organised into five factors (HDP – Human Development against Poverty, AP – Human Activity Pressure on water resources, WR – Water Resources, ODA – Official Development Aid, CEC – Country Environmental Concern). Linear regression methods are used to identify key variables having influence on water supply and sanitation. First analysis indicates that the informal urbanisation development is an important factor negatively influencing the percentage of the population having access to WSS. Health, and in particular children's health, benefits from the improvement of WSS. Irrigation is also enhancing Water Supply service thanks to multi-purpose infrastructure. Five country profiles are also created to deeper understand and synthetize the amount of information gathered. This new classification of countries is useful in identifying countries with a less advanced position and weaknesses to be tackled. The relevance of indicators gathered to represent environmental and water resources state is questioned in the discussion section. The paper concludes with the necessity to increase the reliability of current indicators and calls for further research on specific indicators, in particular on water quality at national scale, in order to better include environmental state in analysis to WSS.

scholarly journals Water Governance and Water Management Systems in the Tekeze River Basin

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-449
Author(s):  
Getahun Antigegn Kumie
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Difficult Situation ◽  
Bilateral Agreements ◽  
Water Supply Management ◽  
Facility Maintenance

The fact that a lot of fresh water resources in Ethiopia are shared between several sovereign states creates a difficult situation in terms of water governance and management. Since there is no central agency that can regulate the utilization of water, the autonomous riparian actors pursue their respective interests. Water is shared at local, national and international levels; and difficulty in water supply management arises from lack of coordination between local, national and international authorities. Most of the Ethiopian rivers are trans-boundary, i.e. shared by several sovereign states. The purpose of this paper is to examine water governance and management systems in the Tekeze River basin. The author uses the qualitative research method to critically examine the existing scarce literature sources and governmental policy documents. The findings of the study revealed the absence of any kinds of bilateral agreements among the riparian states of the Tekeze River basin. As the water governance system in the region is highly politicized, there exists a certain clash of interests between the Tekeze River nations. The constant conflict in the region disrupts cooperation needed for facility maintenance in the Tekeze River basin. The problems in the area arise due to the following factors: no demarcated boundaries between the basin states; no effective water governance system, and, as a result, no efficient and cooperative utilization of fresh water resources; lack of institutional and legal arrangements between the major riparian states.

The myth of abundance: water resources in humid regions

Water Policy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1065-1080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Praskievicz
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Governance Systems ◽  
Improved Outcomes ◽  
Riparian System ◽  
Anglophone World ◽  
Effective Water

Abstract Water resources in humid regions are perceived as abundant, and water-governance systems are based on the expectation of consistent availability of water to meet all needs. In arid regions, in contrast, the operating assumption is that water is a scarce resource that must be allocated systematically to avoid conflict. The ‘myth of abundance’ common in humid regions is counterproductive to effective water governance. This paper provides an overview of the concepts of water scarcity and water security and explains how water governance in humid regions fits into these frameworks. It then addresses the riparian system for allocating water rights and how this system promotes the myth of abundance. Three case studies are presented from humid regions of the Anglophone world, highlighting the shortcomings of abundance-based water-governance systems in these regions. Finally, the water-security framework is advocated as an alternative that addresses fundamental flaws of the abundance-based approach, namely issues related to ecosystems, water quality, disasters, and conflict. Using a goal of water security, rather than a perception of abundance, as the basis for water governance will lead to improved outcomes, especially given future climate change and population growth.

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